What are Story Seeds?

March 11, 2019 Space Blog

Story Seeds: Story Starter Packets for Budding Writers

Whether they’re accomplished authors or just starting to put ideas to paper, Story Seeds gives children ages 6 plus everything they need to conceive of and write a unique story every month.

Inside each Story Seeds packet they’ll find:

  •    A written story prompt by a prominent children’s author, created especially for Story Seeds
  •    A visual story prompt created by a Story Planet artist
  •    A creative writing activity sheet
  •    A writing utensil
  •    Trinkets, such as pins and stickers, in the theme of that month’s prompts

Share their stories with us on social media or email, and they’ll have the pleasure of watching their garden of stories grow!

A subscription to Story Seeds is a gift for your recurring monthly donation of $20 or more.

Once you make your donation, please send the name and address of the child the gift is for to storyseeds@sp004.dev.contextstaging.ca

Donate and subscribe today!

Want To Be Our New Social Media Volunteer?

October 25, 2018 Space Blog

Come And Help Us Shout Out!

The Social Media Volunteer will manage Story Planet’s social media by keeping content up-to-date and on-brand. We want to develop a dynamic online presence to share information about Story Planet to a wider community.

The Social Media Volunteer will participate in the development of a social media plan that includes detailed strategies to:

  • tell our story
  • celebrate kid’s voices and the creative work that we’re doing together
  • connect with influential groups online (partners, individuals, parenting groups, etc.) who can help spread our message
  • Promote corporate and school workshops
  • Boost relevant content
  • Join and lead conversations relevant to the work we do

Contact: lisa@sp004.dev.contextstaging.ca

Story Planet is Accepting Intern Applications for 2018 – 2019!

May 24, 2018 Space Blog

We are accepting intern applications for students starting placements in September, 2018! If you’re interested in doing an internship/student placement with us, please read through the details below.

Story Planet Intern Qualifications:

  • You must have excellent communication skills (written and oral)
  • You are passionate about literacy, the arts, and education
  • You love working with children and youth
  • You are committed to social justice
  • You are highly motivated, responsible, and work well independently
  • You are a self-starter and can take initiative

You should apply to be an intern with us if any of the following apply:

  • You are currently enrolled in a post secondary institution that requires you fulfill specific placement hours
  • You are interested in program design and development for children and youth
  • You are interested in learning more about arts-based education
  • You are interested in workshop facilitation
  • You are are interested in the non-profit/charitable sector
  • You want to gain grant-writing experience
  • You want to gain experience in marketing and social media for a non-profit organization

Story Planet Intern Duties:

These may be subject to change, depending on your program and main areas of interest.

  • Attend Story Planet workshops in schools across GTA for grades 1 – 12
  • Work one-on-one with students to help them improve communication skills
  • Collaborate with Program Director to design and run activities for after-school programming
  • Provide students with mentorship and support during both workshops and after school programming
  • Provide administrative support to Program Director and Director of Operations
  • Help create content for Story Planet’s social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, newsletters)
  • Help with production of Story Planet books for students
  • Provide grant-writing support to Executive Director and Director of Operations

Current and Past Educational Partnerships:

  • Centennial College
  • George Brown College
  • Humber College
  • Sheridan College
  • University of Toronto
  • York University

How to Apply:

Want to intern with us? Send your resume and a cover letter detailing why you want to intern at Story Planet and what makes you a good fit to candace@sp004.dev.contextstaging.ca and volunteer@sp004.dev.contextstaging.ca. Please make your email subject line “Intern Application for Story Planet: YOUR NAME”.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Featured Explorer: Carina Nasturzio

May 16, 2018 Featured Explorer
One of our fabulous interns (and unofficial photographer!) is Carina Nasturzio, and we are so lucky to have had her bright and happy presence with us this past year! Read below to learn more about this awesome explorer!

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1. Favourite planet to live: Mars, but Earth is pretty neat too
2. Favourite book or the last great one you read: The Kite Runner, Room
3. Favourite writers: Marjane Satrapi, Lidia Yuknavitch, Emma Donoghue, Juni Ito
4. Favourite thing to do on Earth:  Make art, explore, and pet dogs
5. Favourite Earth food:  Popcorn
 
6. Favourite moment/memory from your experience at Story Planet:  At one of my very first workshops, a student gave me a note telling me how nice I was and how she was happy we met.  Sometimes I’ll read it when I need a bit of motivation, or just need some cheering up!
7. Most important thing you learned as an intern at Story Planet:  That what we do really makes a difference.  I’ve seen shy and timid students open up and be creative in the span of one hour, and you can tell that the workshop really touched them.  It’s heartwarming to see, and I’m so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to see it.

Introducing: Wine & Story Night!

April 22, 2018 Events

We are so excited to launch our brand new event series: Wine & Story Night!

Come to Story Planet on Friday, May 11 for a hilarious and entertaining night! You’ll be guided by a professional playwright and artist through a hysterical writing process. At the end, you’ll take home your own script, printed, bound, and illustrated by the artist!

Wine, beer, and non-alcoholic beverages will also be available throughout the evening, because we now how to host a good party.

Hurry and buy your tickets HERE!

All proceeds will go towards funding our programming for marginalized children and youth.

Featured Explorer: Catriona Spaven-Donn

March 27, 2018 Featured Explorer

At Story Planet, we work with some of the most amazing, inspiring, and truly wonderful humans on the planet, and we’d love for you to learn more about them too!

We would like to introduce you to one of our stellar new volunteers, Catriona Spaven-Donn. Catriona is not only a fabulous volunteer who has been helping kids and youth around Toronto through other organizations, she’s also a super cool human with many talents who has also travelled to Toronto all the way from Scotland.

Check out her responses below!

1. Favourite planet to live: Living on Earth is pretty cool – we can be in urban environments with huge streetcar and library networks as well as loads of choices of places to eat and shop; but then we can also be in other habitats. Earlier this year, I lived on an island 4000 metres above sea level where it was sometimes difficult to breathe and the high pressure brought tremendous lightning storms. So far, I’ve found that Planet Earth is full of places to visit, people to meet, stories to tell, and adventures to embark upon.

2. Favourite book or the last great one you read: This year, I worked at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which is the largest book festival in the world, and I was lucky enough to hear many great writers present their work. There were sold out events for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith, both of whose novels I have very much enjoyed reading. But rather than the sit-down talks with famous authors, my favourite events happened in the Imagination Lab, where we set up cushions and tables with crayons and arts and crafts for infants and children. There, I discovered Britta Teckentrup’s wonderful world of collage and peek-through story books while working with Grade 2s to produce our own artwork. Her children’s books, such as ‘Tree’, which follows a tree and its woodland companions through four seasons, are creative and educational, with a special focus on nature and wildlife and exploring this planet we call home.

3. Favourite writers: I’ve already mentioned a couple of my favourite fiction writers, but I also read other genres like poetry and travel writing. As you can tell from my Britta Teckentrup recommendation, I love books about nature. Kathleen Jamie is a Scottish poet who writes about the Scottish landscape, which makes me feel very connected to where I grew up in the countryside outside of Edinburgh, and also in the mountainous, windswept wilderness of the Scottish Highlands.

4. Favourite thing to do on Earth: Unsurprisingly from all you’ve read about me now, I love reading and traveling! I love going on adventures and exploring hidden away spaces, and scribbling words or taking photos while I’m at it.

5. Favourite Earth food: Anything chocolate mint flavour (but sadly also dairy-free due to dietary restrictions) and tortilla chips and humous. I’m all about the snacks!

6. Favourite moment/memory from your experience at Story Planet: For one comic-making workshop with Grade 4s and 5s, seeing the character we created collectively come alive in the students’ comic panels was really exciting. I enjoyed sharing ideas about glass-eating monsters and unicorn best friends, but the best moment was one earnest comic-maker shouting out to me at the end, “I’ll miss you!” It’s great to know that Story Planet is so valued in the classrooms we visit – and it also means we’ll just have to keep going back so they don’t miss us too much!

Jennifer & Jacob: A Script by the Talented Writers of the Monsignor Fraser SWAC Program

December 19, 2017 Space Blog

Artwork by Giovanna Galuppo

Jennifer & Jacob
A Script by the Talented Writers of the Monsignor Fraser SWAC Program

Cast of Characters

Jennifer: 20 year old woman. She is Mexican. She has bleached blonde hair, is a student and works part-time as a bartender/server at a Toronto restaurant. She is gay, and also afraid of spiders.

Jacob: 21 year old man. He is Colombian. He is 6 “2, has dark hair, and thick eyebrows. He is a graphic designer and photographer. He is a great listener and very empathetic. He is best friends with Jennifer. They met while Jennifer was serving. Jacob gave her a really great tip, they exchanged numbers, and became friends. Jacob is in love with Jennifer, but knows that they can never be together because Jennifer is a lesbian. Jacob has always found her very attractive, but has realized that she does not feel the same way. Jacob is a great listener and very empathetic, and has been there to help Jennifer as she discovers more about herself.

Ashley: Jennifer’s girlfriend. They met at a party in highschool and have been dating for 3 years. She is very clingy and needy. Ashley doesn’t like Jacob because she has a sense that he has feelings for Jennifer.

SCENE 1
[6:30pm. October 31, Halloween. Funnel cake area at Canada’s Wonderland. People are wandering around, and there is music playing. People are yelling in the background. Jennifer and Jacob sit at a table, sharing a funnel cake. It is a chilly evening, and they are both wearing thick knit sweaters.]

JENNIFER: I got two tickets to the Drake concert!

JACOB: No way! When is it?

JENNIFER: It’s, um, in two weeks.

JACOB: Wow! That’s going to be awesome! I can’t wait! Where are the seats?

JENNIFER: They’re front row! But I never said I was taking you.

[A person in a Dracula costume scares the two of them, distracting Jennifer.]

JACOB: Damn, you scared me! …Ohh, alright.

JENNIFER: [laughs, and says excitedly] We have backstage passes too!

JACOB: Backstage passes to see Drake? That’s awesome!

JENNIFER: Yeah, I know!

JACOB: Who are you taking?

JENNIFER: You know I’m taking Ashley, my girlfriend.

JACOB: Say word, mierda, you’re taking Ashley?!

JENNIFER: Unfortunately, but this is the truth.

JACOB: You’re taking your girlfriend? Huh. [Under his breath] I’m like your best friend.

JENNIFER: Jacob, it’s her birthday, and I want to surprise her with the tickets.

JACOB: You’re actually taking her? That sucks.

JENNIFER: Why are you mad?

JACOB: I’m happy that you’re taking her, but I’m kind of upset… I wanted to do something like this together.

JENNIFER: You can buy nosebleed seats…

[Awkward silence. There is a scream in the background.]

JACOB: Tesoro, it’s Drake! Tickets are like 200 bucks! This sucks, dude.

JENNIFER: I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.

JACOB: I mean, I guess. I mean, I can’t blame Ashley, she’s your girlfriend.

JENNIFER: Yeah, Jacob. Thanks for understanding the situation.

JACOB: Maybe we should kill her.

[Jacob laughs, but Jennifer grows angry.]

JENNIFER: This is serious, Jacob, it’s her birthday!

JACOB: But she always chooses her friends over you!

JENNIFER: We’re at a good place right now. I mean, we could sneak you in maybe?

JACOB: [raising his voice a little, being passive-aggressive] Man, I’m like 6’2”!

To be continued…

Featured Explorer: Shawna Lee Campbell

December 19, 2017 Featured Explorer

At Story Planet, we work with some of the most amazing, inspiring, and truly wonderful humans on the planet, and we’d love for you to learn more about them too!

We would like to introduce you to one of our stellar volunteers, Shawna Lee Campbell. Shawna is not only a wonderful volunteer who has connected with kids all over the GTA, she is a published children’s book author, artist, and all-round lovely human.

Check out her responses below!

1. Favourite planet to live: Our magnificent Earth of course!

2. Favourite book or the last great one you read: The Little Prince wins my heart.

3. Favourite writers: Lucy Rose and Mike Norris!

4. Favourite thing to do on Earth: Travel, paint, write, mermaid, hike, hoop, breathe, laugh, sleep.

5. Favourite Earth food: Shawarma

6. Favourite moment/memory from your experience at Story Planet: My favourite workshop I’ve done is the Alien Has Landed workshop. The moment that stands out for me the most was the fifth grader who felt the spacecraft had been appropriated from a Northern Indigenous community by aliens. Her perspective was incredibly insightful and intelligently articulated. She was able to back up her ideas with specific details about the spacecraft and reference to factual details of Indigenous culture and Northern landscapes. It was a fascinating experience listening to her ideas.